Off To The Chinese Consulate

We have more good news about our paperwork! Our dossier made it safely through the certification process in the capital this past week, and now we're sending it off to the Chinese Consulate in NY to be authenticated! You may be wondering what all of this means, so I'll try to explain it in English:) Our "dossier" is a collection of 14 documents that must travel to China and be looked over by the CCAA (China Center For Adoption Affairs). The 14 documents include :

Birth certificates
Marriage certificates
Employment letters
Medical forms
Personal letter explaining why we would like to adopt Maia
Financial statements
Immigration approval (797C)
Police Clearance letters from our local police department

All of these documents must first be notarized locally. Then, our dossier went to the state capital where they "certified" every notary signature. After that, our dossier will travel to NY where all of the notarizations and certifications will be "authenticated". With each step, each document gets a new kind of seal or stamp. All of this leads up to us sending our dossier off to China, and then we will wait for an invitation to travel to bring Maia home. M and I both are very exhausted from what adoptive families like to call "paperchasing", and relieved to be one step from getting the paperwork out of our hands and in China. Before we started paperchasing, several families told us this process definately wasn't for the faint of heart.......thank goodness I had the picture of my precious Maia to keep me motivated on the days when it all looked so overwhelming:) We're one step closer baby girl!!!